We woke up to another off and on rainy day. Our original plans were to go to the Studios and have lunch at Prime Time 50s. None of us were in the mood for that type of interaction today and we had not been to Animal Kingdom yet so we decided to head there. There was quite a wait for the AK/Blizzard Beach bus; the other day, there were multiple buses for this park! We finally got there about 10:30 which is way later than I would have liked but the park did not seem crowded at all. One of the cast members yelled SAMUEL L. JACKSON! Sure enough, the was a guy there that either WAS him or was a dead ringer for him; even had the type of hat he wears on. I wanted to stalk him but we lost him, lol.
We first headed for the Safari ride to get fast passes, which weren’t really needed. The fast passes were only 45 minutes away. I wanted to go walk the Pangani Trail but Jake wanted to walk through Asia. We walked over to Kali River Rapids and everyone was completely soaked! We headed over to Expedition Everest and the wait was only 30 minutes. Jake wanted to ride and I do like this ride, but not the backwards part; it gets me every time. He does not like to ride anything single rider, so we kept going around to Dino Land and walked right on to Dinosaur. It was fun and we had all new people in our car so they were screaming the entire time which made it more fun for everyone; plus, we got the front row!
We were all hungry so we walked back to Rainforest and had about a 5 minute wait before being seated. I had a $10 off birthday certificate as a member of the Safari Club and the waiter said I could either use that or the 10% off OR free appetizer. I opted for the $10 off. Ever since they took the coconut chicken off the menu, nothing really appeals to me here. I ended up with the burger which was HUGE! Jake ate all of his pasta dish AND finished the last few bites of mine. Joe had a spicy pasta dish of some sort. When the waiter brought the check, he advised me that they DID indeed allow the $10 off AND the 10% off check! The Safari Club membership is the best $10 non expiring membership I ever bought!
It was now (past) time for our safari so we walked back there. Today’s weather was off and on drizzle (never needed a poncho) and very pleasant temperatures for a change! There was no need for a fast pass, the stand by line was almost up to the boarding area. We got our front row seat in the jeep and headed out on our two week safari! I thought since it had been drizzling, we would see lots of animals, but there really weren’t as many as usual. We DID see a baby elephant which was too hard to get a picture of and the baby giraffe, which I did manage to get a picture of. Our safari driver was ok, nothing special. She did the spiel but sounded sort of bored with it all. I imagine it would get monotonous after awhile.
We really did not do too much in Animal Kingdom today but we did as much as we wanted to; I would have liked to walk through Pangani though. We walked back to the bus area and had about a 10 minute wait, not too bad. I must have fell asleep on the way back; I woke up and we were here already.
After a little break, we took the dogs over on the cart to the dog park. It was cloudy when we got there and then the sun came out. Cassie and Sandie just love coming here. After we unleash them, they just take off like the wind! This time, there was another dog in the park with them who is not used to dogs. She seemed to like Sandie but when Cassie came over, she growled and they had to pull her away. I was getting nervous cause Cassie wanted to play, she kept putting her Frisbee in the dogs face and I was afraid the other dog would get mad. I hosed them down and we came back. Our neighbor came over to let me know that she found the collar in small that I had been looking for for Sandie, since Cassie decided to chew off the end of it. So I can either get it at the Magic Kingdom or World of Disney.
We decided to cook out hamburgers tonight and of course as is the tradition with us, Joe gets the burgers on the grill and it starts to rain. Our old charcoal was not lighting so we opened a new bag that we had but then the lighter ran out! Jake and I hopped on the golf cart and went down to the Settlement store but they did not have any so we drove over to the Meadows store and found one there. Poor Joe, I think he was ready to give up by the time we got back. He said he wasn’t sure if the coals were still hot but they were and the burgers were so good.
We all wanted some type of dessert but did not want to venture too far out tonight. I was thinking the fort needs some type of ice cream place, either at Trails End or take out. Jake wanted to watch soccer on TV so Joe and I drove down to the settlement area and parked the cart. We found a couple empty rockers and someone else walked up and asked if there was a place to get ice cream! I said, see, we are not the only ones that want that! I am not even an ice cream person but I like it on vacation once in awhile. Joe filled up his refillable mug and then bought me a mudslide at the window. We sat on the porch and watched the goings on at the Settlement. Hoop Dee Doo was letting out and another show was lining up; people were playing horse shoes (plastic); the hay ride horse/wagon rode by, then the horse and carriage went by. I could sit here all night in my rocker with my mudslide! Usually, there is a checkers game going on on the porch but not tonight. Before we knew it, it was time for the Electrical Water Pageant, so we walked out to the dock and got a table there and watched the pageant. I love this show no matter how many times I see it. It was only 10 minutes til the fireworks started but we wanted to walk the dogs around a little bit, so we headed out. As we were starting out with the dogs, we could see the fireworks right from our site, just behind the RV! This evening was very pleasant, could almost use a light coat! I happened to notice the CMs checking people in at Trails End had a heater on the porch!
As is the case every time, people always stop to see the dogs so it takes awhile to get around the loops, lol. We were heading on to our path and a cart went by and I heard a little girl yell out “hi Sandie”! Then someone else said “oh I love those dogs”, lol.
